Saturday, September 20, 2014

Today, guest author Anthony Hains talks about writing
his new horror novel Dead Works. If you like a good mix of psychological
suspense and supernatural horror, you’ll like Anthony Hains’ stories. I also
enjoyed his novel, Birth Offering.

The final version of Dead Works is only remotely similar to
the original version. My initial plot for the novel involved the mishaps of
ghost hunters exploring a 100 year old mansion situated in a glorious setting
on Long Island Sound in New York. One of the characters had a back story that
involved him in therapy as a child - an account that may have topped out at 800
words. So, this wasn’t a huge focus, but rather an interesting tidbit to
illustrate a character.

The only problem with this
back story idea was that I couldn’t shake it from my mind. The issues involving
the therapy became more complex, even if I didn’t start out with the intention
of putting them on paper. It was only a matter of time until this back story
became more interesting than the original plot. I realized that I needed to jettison the ghost hunter notion and go with the
kid-in-therapy narrative.

Since I am a psychologist
and a professor of counseling psychology, I immediately knew the angle I was
going to take. The main character was going to be a graduate student – a
counseling psychologist in training. The young man would be in a practicum
class where students are placed in a clinical setting and conduct therapy under
the supervision of an on-site psychologist and a university instructor. After
all, I live this stuff on a daily basis. I have taught at least one practicum
class a year for the past 25 years. I know how students think and act. And,
even though it has been a very long time, I still remember what it is like to
be a graduate student. The client, of course, needed to be a kid – again, no
problems since my professional area of focus is pediatric psychology and I have
been studying and interacting with adolescents most of my professional career.
While this group can be a pain in the butt for many professionals, I rather
enjoy the population.

The challenge came with
making the process authentic without losing a reader. Losing a reader can
happen a couple of ways with this type of narrative. First, if I wrote an
accurate account of therapy, the layperson would become increasingly
frustrated. Unlike screen portrayals of therapy, there are rarely (if ever)
those dramatic eureka moments when the client gains insight and the problem is
solved within minutes. In most cases, the problem and the goals of therapy are
identified early, and the difficult work involves the client learning and
practicing new ways of coping or behaving to address personal concerns. This
takes time, depending on the nature of the problem.

Second, if I did go for the
dramatic denouement and make the therapy passages unrealistic or simplistic, I
would run the risk of personal embarrassment if my colleagues or students
actually read my fiction (so far, none have as far as I know). Pure vanity (or
maybe self-respect?) on my part, I know.

So, I provided excerpts of
five therapy sessions involving my graduate student protagonist, Eric, and his
thirteen year old client, Greg. I deleted some of the more mundane interactions
between them, and stuck to the more “thrilling” proceedings. By the way, the
boy sees ghosts, so much of the interactions involve the kid learning how to
make sense of these events. I portrayed my student character as being competent
at this level of training. He makes all the “correct” responses in therapy and
his inner narrative is consistent with what graduate students might be
thinking.

Finally, you can’t get
around the fact that this is a ghost story and the topic of therapy involves
seeing ghosts. Most problems addressed in actual therapy are not
“other-worldly”. The terrors, fears, and concerns of clients are grounded in daily
realities. Sometimes these horrors exceed our experience, but we know about
them anyway: abuse, addiction, suicide… You don’t need ghosts when you have
these things to deal with. Nonetheless, every once in a while something rather
strange appears on the radar screen in therapy. I can think of three or four
times this has happened in my work. How do you address it? There is no one way
of doing it, but I think Dead Works
provides some indications. Curious? I hope you read Dead Works to find out.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Lately, I’ve
been having a lot of guest writers share their encounters with real paranormal
phenomena from haunted hospitals to haunted graveyards to haunted houses. Today,
Dawn Shepard shares some strange paranormal activity in her own home, which
seems to be possessed by multiple spirits . . . and these aren’t the friendly
kind. I’ll let Dawn take it from here.

My paranormal journey has
been one of the most difficult, dangerous, yet intriguing paths I’ve taken
within my life. Since my childhood I’ve always believed in ghosts, spirits,
entities and have been told by many that I have a gift of being a sensitive or empathy
to them. Personally, I never attributed myself to this belief of a gift until
four years ago, and that’s when I started to believe differently. I had some
experiences after my grandfather’s passing but not ever the intensity of what
I’ve been dealing with in my home.

I’ve lived in my rented home
peacefully for ten years, but things started occurring after being here for
only seven years. Activity started in October 2010 after a Ouija board was
found while cleaning the attic. It was noticed that sometimes objects would
disappear in our home, but because of a hectic lifestyle, it was thought to be
a result of being absent minded or forgetful and never questioned. Sometimes
you could hear a door open or close, but having pets in the home seemed to be
the answer to these occurrences too. On March 11th, 2011 the unexplained
reality of paranormal happenings became very real and began my journey into the
realm of another real and true existence.

While it's difficult to tell in this image, I snapped a picture of

a young man's face looking out of the window from one of the rooms in the attic.

The following are some unexplained
messes that started in our landlord's home in the beginning.

After having six
investigations which also included two different mediums and a psychic medium, EVPs
(electronic voice phenomena), EMF (electromagnetic field) readings, pictures,
ghost box sessions, my own investigating, countless hours of research along
with researching the history on the home, I was able to start to figure some
things out but didn’t realize there was going to be more to be learned.

It is known that I have
eight spirits in the home with the possibility of more. Three of the eight are
evil and the others I’m still not quite sure because trickery can be used and
they don’t like to be honest. The three evil ones―two are deceased relatives of
mine and the third is believed to be an attachment to the home since the
1800s.

My daughter and I have
encountered several different odors such as sulfur, burnt toast, wet dirt,
rotting flesh, apples and cinnamon, and wild musk perfume. We have been
touched, heard growling, evil laughter, whispering, and sometimes voices.
Objects have been thrown at us such as knives, hand held pruning shears, CDs, VCR
tapes, etc.

I have been pushed down the
stairs, touched in my sleep, have had the towel pulled off me after getting out
of the shower. My daughter has been scratched, had some small unexplained
bruises, and also had two incidents happen that she has no memory of but I was
told that I intercepted what was the beginnings of a possession.

The following 3-minute video is from a paranormal investigation at our house where we captured some sound of the spirits.

can of cat food opened

and thrown
at the ceiling and wall

garlic powder dumped on the
floor

Sometimes the phone will
ring right before or after activity and there will be no one on the other end,
or you will hear a muffled voice but can’t understand what’s being spoken.

My daughter and I have also experienced
some activity while being in the car together, when we pulled into the driveway
and stopped. In the following pics is the scratch my daughter got while we were
in the car together. The scratch is in the shape of a letter "Z."

And there have been
occurrences that have happened from time to time when she visits or has a sleepover
at her friend’s home across the street from my home.

This was a written message
left for me when my daughter was staying at her friend's home across the street. Some activity was happening and they had called me to come over.
When I went to get my phone to take pictures, this written message was next to
my phone. The message reads, "BN AND RM ARE MINE” (my daughter's initials
and her friend's).

The next message was written
on my daughter's bedroom mirror in red lipstick while no one was home. She and
I had gone to the doctor's and then the store. We found this message after coming home and
I went into her room. This was two days after the priest had done a full
blessing on our home for the third time. It says: "YOU CANT STOP
ME".

We’ve experienced communication from written messages, symbols, on Facebook and
from several messes made using edible items and even paint.

Below is cat litter taken from a
litter box and made into a circle. Circles were always being made and it's a
protection for the entities and means never ending.

This symbol below is a
drawing and only because I was away when this symbol was made out of fruity
pebbles cereal, black pepper, and onion powder. The word "DIE" was
written underneath.

My husband at the time had found it and tried to shield our
daughter from it and didn't think to take a picture. They were asked to
describe what they saw and to draw it in separate rooms. I found out it's a
satanic symbol to represent the devil.

The next symbol is a “triquetra” made out of black pepper and garlic powder
along with a circle and a written message. The messages says: "I WANT
THE GIRL NOW I NEED HER TO JOI ME."

My daughter, a few years older

The second written message
was written on my daughter's bedroom wall next to her closet door with a mirror
on it. It says . . . "SHES MINE JOI ME AND YOU WILL DIE DAWN.”

This message was written
after I had intercepted what was the start of a partial possession of her. She
has blue eyes and her eyes were black when I had opened her door to see if she
was okay.

The calendar was thrown at
me while upstairs in my landlord's place and the word "DIE" was
written on it for me. I have been constantly told to die.

While all of this may seem unbelievable, it’s been
proven that these incidents weren't from someone playing a joke or trying to be scary, and I have
copies of all the messages received. The home has been blessed
three times inside and outside using holy water, incense, many prayers,
crosses and other religious objects. Gregorian music has also been tried, sage,
crystals, salt, and other things. Each time though the activity escalates and
becomes stronger and more difficult.

I’ve been told that I have a
combination of demonic activity along with witchcraft that was either practiced
or dabbled with, and there was also some kind of satanic worshipping or
practicing. I have names of those whom lived in the home from the 1800s up
until now but can’t say for certain what was ever practiced or believed in.

There is much more to my
story but wanted to try to give some insight into my journey that I am still facing
and working at resolving. I understand there may be those that feel moving out
of the home would be in my best interest but the spirits can and do follow. I
am not one to give up very easily, nor will I give into what they feel they can
have or control without trying for a resolution.

Here is a video of another paranormal investigation. This one is 18 minutes.

Many thanks to Dawn Shepard for sharing her paranormal story on Dark Lucidity. I love posting paranormal stories. If you have evidence of ghostly encounters with photos and video, or know someone who does, please contact Brian(at)BrianMoreland(dot)com.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

During
September and October 2014, I have 3 book signings coming up in Central Texas.
If you live near Austin or one of the smaller towns north of Waco, come by and
see me.

Hillsboro
Signing

Event: The Hill County Child Protective Services
Board will have its third annual fundraiser on September 20th. It’s going to be
a fun night of BBQ, live music, silent auction, and several authors from
different areas will be there for a book signing. Come out and party with us
and bring the whole family.

When: Saturday, September 20th. Book signing starts
at 3:00 p.m. BBQ dinner served from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. The band will play from
6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. I’ll be there for the whole event.

Where: Exhibits Building at the Fairgrounds behind
the football stadium across from the Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, T

High School address:1600 Abbott Ave, Hillsboro, TX 76645Texas

Whitney,
TX Signing

Event: Pioneer Days- a historical festival the entire town celebrates.

At each of these
events, I’ll be signing alongside my friend and children’s book author Rosemary
Janney. You can find Rosemary’s book AUDELIA’S ADVENTURES at Amazon,BarnesandNoble.com,
and wherever books are sold.

Now Available

Now Available

Now Available

Now Available

Now Available

Coming Fall 2017

Deutsche Buche: Schattenkrieger

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About Me

Welcome!
Thanks for visiting. I'm a fiction writer who lives in Texas in the wonderful city of Dallas. I write supernatural horror. I enjoy mixing genres with history, romance, mystery, and nail-biting, dark suspense. My novels are DEAD OF WINTER, SHADOWS IN THE MIST, THE DEVIL'S WOODS, and novellas THE WITCHING HOUSE, DARKNESS RISING, and THE VAGRANTS. When not writing, I enjoy world travel, hiking, kayaking, reading, movies, and watching sports. My mission is to entertain and thrill millions of readers around the world.